


Episode 38: Tavut's Troubles

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [38]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 23:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21346753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "I don't need concern. I have enough for me." ~TavutSecrets are no fun.
Series: Clan Meso'a [38]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1261364
Kudos: 1





	Episode 38: Tavut's Troubles

“Nina and Teya, that’s all,” Doaxa paced back and forth in front of the holotable.   
“Not your sons?” Xotolicue asked, seated in the council room flanked by Ba’atuk and Bergundt.   
“Neither of them want to go, and you don’t want Teos to attend anything, do you?” she chuckled, thinking fondly of her three boys, “Besides, I hear your Raider has come back? Has she spoken to him yet?”  
Ba’atuk twitched, “How did you hear about that?”  
Doaxa grinned, “I have my own informants, Choxultz’alor, and you know them all by name. How is this a surprise?”   
“It is not, but I would think you’d keep-”  
“This is not the time,” Xotolicue hissed out of the corner of his mouth, “Doaxa, ori’vod, I have been told that they are in conversation as we speak. A decision will be made by the end of the week.”   
“I hope so,” Doaxa nodded, her posture relaxing, “Forgive me, Ba’atuk, I just worry for my son.”   
“I understand,” Ba’atuk lied, having no maternal instinct of her own, “Fa’ssra’nas, ori’vod.” (Trust them, friend.)   
“Ta’fa’ssra’nas.” (I trust them).   
Xotolicue smiled and clapped his hands, “Good, good, then we are in agreement? We will see you, Nina, and Teya in the morning?”  
“That you shall!” Doaxa crossed one arm behind her back and lifted her chin.   
The trio on the other end did the same before cutting the transmission. The blue light illuminating the room vanished and she was left in relative darkness. Her breathing slowed and nothing but the silence of the room around her filed her ears. She lingered in that position for a moment, her head tilted back just enough so the tears didn’t stain her cheeks.

“See you tomorrow!” Cara waved as Tavut disappeared up the path towards the foothills proper.   
“Will he be alright?” she heard Jecho whisper to Aviila.   
“He’s had time to prepare,” she replied, leaning against the doorway and following his progress.   
“I don’t like it one bit,” hissed Niri, “He’s not old enough.”   
“He’s an adult to us,” Aviila reminded her.   
Niri shook her head, “Yeah but if he was my kid, I wouldn’t let him take on something like that.”   
“Out of concern for him or mistrust of-”  
“Both,” Niri said gravely, heading back inside and slumping down on the bench.   
Cara heard Jecho strike up a conversation with Dendona and the twins, but her thoughts had drifted too far to understand what was being said. It was dark, too dark to make out his shrinking figure, but she tried her best. He hadn’t said much of anything after their conversation, only muttering that he wasn’t trying to be late. Late to what, no one said.   
“Is he taking the trials,” Cara asked Aviila as they washed and shelved dishes.   
“Not yet,” she replied, shoveling the rest of the Dunuul carcases into a compost bin just outside the patio door, “But he was given a task by our Alor, an important one. If he succeeds, he’ll take the trials and be permanently assigned… where he’s going.”   
“Is that what he does during the day? I haven’t seen him do anything else.”   
“He takes odd jobs mostly,” Aviila stretched up to put a bowl in the cabinet, “he’s not a full warrior yet. He’s only taken the Kexultz. He’s seventeen last I checked.”   
“That’s right,” Niri raised a mug in the other room, “He might be an adult but I still say someone else should do this.”   
Aviila winced, “Tir’rachi,” she shot out of the corner of her mouth.   
“It’s not for us to speculate anyways,” said Jecho, jumping in between the older women, “When I was with the Ordo, I understood that age and maturity have little to do with one another. It has everything to do with your training and your willingness to get the job done.”   
Niri shrugged, “Buir always said a good head on your shoulders was worth its weight in beskar, but Tavut…” she trailed off, gesturing broadly in the air.   
“He’s smart, strong, and his trainers marked down that he could think on his feet,” Aviila reminded her, “I wasn’t at his Kexultz, but Ba’atuk and I talk, remember.”   
“Probably the only person she talks to,” muttered Niri into her mug, “I’m supposed to be giving her reports on my project, but I can’t seem to catch her at a good time.”   
“She’s got a lot going on,” Aviila sighed, taking the last of the dishes from Cara and setting them in the cabinet, “Why don’t you go get some sleep,” she added as the teen moved to collect the cutlery from the drying rack.   
“But I want to know what’s going on,” she protested, “No one tells me anything.”   
“Secrets are like traditions around here, ad,” Niri chuckled, “If you want answers you’d have to fight for them.”   
Cara glanced around the room, “I..think I’d lose that fight.”  
The older women looked at each other and burst into laughter.   
“You don’t have to literally fight,” Aviila put an arm around her and drew her to her hip, “But I understand. This is probably the worst month to bring a new person into Clan life.”   
Jecho frowned, “I’m doing my best, ori’vod.”   
“I know I know,” Aviila clapped her shoulder as she passed, sitting Cara down between herself and Dendona, still awake with the twins curled up in the corner under the new blankets they’d bought, “I’ll give you fifteen minutes to ask whatever questions you want but then you need sleep. We’ll be busy all day tomorrow.”   
“Ok!” Cara clapped, turning to face her and practically shivering with excitement, “Where is Tavut going? Will I have to learn an instrument for tomorrow? How close do I have to sit to Bahtuk? What happens if I can’t understand someone tomorrow because I don’t want to offend anyone? How long will we be traveling? Who will we stay with? And,” she took a deep breath, “Can I tell Beon I’m ok because I feel really bad not telling them I’m ok and I’ve been thinking about it a lot but I didn’t want to say anything since I didn’t know if it was an ok thing to ask [gasp] but it’s been on my mind for weeks and it’s ok if you say no since-”  
Aviila put a hand over her mouth and Niri snorted her ka’hast.   
“I really should have thought that through,” Aviila chuckled, “The mountains. No. Ba’atuk doesn’t sit. You’ll be with Jecho so you don’t have to worry. For three weeks to a month. Friends. And no, that’s not possible.”   
Cara’s shoulders sank, “That’s what Jecho said.”   
Aviila pulled her hand away, “Huh?”  
“Jecho,” Cara repeated, “She said I wouldn’t be able to.”   
Aviila glanced at her, “So you two have talked?”  
Jecho nodded, “I didn’t think I should keep it from her any longer. It’s… been nice to finally talk about it myself.”   
“Talk about what? You being Ordo’ad?” asked Niri, holding a cloth towel over her bleeding nose.   
“I...yes,” Jecho said slowly, “But you know I wasn’t one for very long.”   
“Yeah, you deserted them.”   
“I didn’t,” Jecho started to defend herself, but she backed down, “I wasn’t ready to be a Mandalorian. I’m still not,” she admitted, “I only became a Chibala at Palouta’s request. He wanted information on the Ordo, but I didn’t want to give it to him.”   
Aviila cocked her head to the side, “He wanted information. Why? If anyone would want that it would be Xoto.”   
Jecho shrugged, “I didn’t tell him anything. He wasn’t happy, but he understood my ‘loyalties’ as he called it.”   
Niri clicked her heels idly, “At least you didn’t betray them any more than you already have.”   
Jecho sank in her seat, nodding bitterly, “I wanted to go back, I did-”  
“But that’s not possible,” finished Aviila, “Not anymore. Not for a long time.”   
“Why not?” Cara asked, looking from one to the other, “That doesn’t seem fair.”   
Niri shrugged, “I could go back to my Clan if I wanted, I’m not a Meso’a and I have my own ship.”   
“That would require having a Clan to begin with,” muttered Jecho.  
“You’ve got me there, aruet’al,” Niri chuckled mirthlessly, “Haven’t met another Spar in ages. Officially, the Spar died out centuries ago. Someone accused someone of something and the whole tribe got reduced to one person.”   
“Who?”   
“No idea,” Niri admitted, crossing her arms and staring off thoughtfully, “We don’t remember that stuff like the Meso’a do.”   
No one seemed to have a comment after that, not even Cara. Dendona whispered something to Aviila in Soah-ra, and the pair walked out to the patio to talk. Niri yawned enthusiastically and muttered something about sleep, leaving through the front door and disappearing down the street.   
“Get some sleep,” Jecho said, helping Cara to her feet and walking her to the foot of the stairs, “I’m staying here at Aviila’s request. I’ll be helping you get ready in the morning.”   
Cara nodded, though she wasn’t the least bit sleepy.


End file.
